Hello California! 1 month with you has given me memories I will treasure for my entire life. I have to say I have had one hell of an amazing time here, mostly in Lincoln with my Auntie Josie and Uncle Mike. But some awesome memories were made on some small trips to Sacramento, Yosemite National Park, Muir Woods, Davis, Vegas and San Francisco.

My California experience started with a Margarita, some Mexican food and two beautiful people, Josie and Mike. From here it only got better we spent our 'free' days working out in the gym, going to tap dancing practice, eating amazing food (best was the Christmas Roast in March J ), going to the movies, learning to knit and eating one to many peanut butter M&M's. So my first weekend here was spent with my cousin Richard, in his college town of Davis. Where I was introduced to a socke-bonk?? Yeah, still not too sure what it is. It is here, in Davis that I was re-introduced to Taco Bell, and you have only got better the longer I had to wait for you TB. Davis also introduced me to something new! College basketball and college cheerleaders! UCDavis vs Titans! Woohoo, it was awesome as! I wish English University Sports was like American. So finishing my visit in Davis with an American breakfast of French toast and heading back to my Auntie and Uncle's for Scriven family lunch!

Sacramento was my next visit with Auntie and Uncle, heading to Old Sacramento to start, walking around the old town was awesome, a little visit inside the Railway Museum followed by lunch on the river J and the afternoon was spent in the Capitol building and watching The Iron Lady. From Sacramento we had a couple of days rest till madness of Yosemite National Park begun.

Yose-mot-e is how it is now pronounced. Thanks to my pronunciation skills. We arrived at the National Park with a little bit of snow set on the ground and fog in the air, so I truly did not know what the sky was going to reveal in the morning. So the evening was spent like no more on a 'camping' trip - eating s'mores. But these were a little different; they were roasted on an indoor fire! Yay! It was amazing the next day. Auntie Josie, Uncle Mike, my cousin Mark and I spent the day exploring the park, walking a few trails to Verndal falls and Mirror Lake. The time at the park was incredible. I loved being there, it had the most beautiful views and amazing company also makes a trip even better. I usually say that I will not return to a place anymore as I have a list of places I want to visit but Yose-mot-e, you might be the one to break that. Then back to Lincoln for a night till another car journey to the Bacon family's house.

The Bacon family is as I see it, my extended family. My limited time with them was more than I could have imagined- I am privileged to have met them all, we spent the evening in the family home with good food and time to get to know each other. With a home so full of love it was hard to not feel at home. Followed by bed time, pancake breakfast, lunch at Panera Bread and some incredible time at Muir Woods. Home of the Redwoods, the biggest trees in the world, well I hear. It was hard to say goodbye to the bacon family as I had such little time with them but such big memories from it. I really hope to keep in contact with them allJ.

LAS VEGAS! With Nicole Thompson. Enough said. Well, okay… I'll tell you a little more. It was awesome. I think I was really funny. I cartwheeled when under the influence. "Please me…". Kelly Clarkson. Won much of my money back, unlike Nicole. Grand Canyon was cool - I wish I had appreciated it more. YES! Then from Vegas with Nicole to San Francisco with Kristin! Yes please. And San Fran is one hell of a place and I feel it's right to say that some things are 'only in San Fran'. Only in San Fran will they build a basketball court under a Cathedral, will you see full -on druggies taking drugs on the street, see a man with his shirt of in a fast-food restaurant, a man in a wheelchair with a blonde wig and blush on, a man smoking weed on a newspaper stand, an elevator stuck in Alcatraz and a man jogging around the city with a shower cap on and black sticky tape under his eyes. Yead, this are the things we saw in SF. But other than the scary SF, we had a pretty awesome time, well as awesome as it gets when you're soaked through to your underwear every day by 9am. Biking the Golden Gate bridge was like a life challenge that I had no time to train for, we cycled over it, down to Sausalito and then back! And if you have been over to Sausalito you know that hill on the way down, well we came back up it, ohh yeah! A trip to Alcatraz was really interesting, Chinatown was pretty strange, like walking through a whole country plonked in the middle of SF. The burlesque show was pretty intriguing and in a sense, educational. I think :-S I feel it isn't approriate for me to share anymore details than this with you online. My bad. We also saw the loud Sealions on Pier 39 and witnessed some Cable car craziness - people are stupid. We found a water statue/fountain thingy that you walk walk under and around and there was stairs so you could explore more, it was sweet as. I miss K.Miller, she is too awesome for me and I hope she really takes advantage of the opportunites she has over the next few months.

So down to my last week in California, with a few days spent back in Davis with Richard consisting mostly of pj & movie day, my final Scriven family lunch, which actually was like a Christmas dinner and then I'm into my last 2 days with Auntie Josie and Uncle Mike. I'm just making the most of having them as company and appreciting them very muchly. If I didn't know that real life was waiting for me so close I probably would have stayed much longer :-).

"stop trying to be American" - K.Miller.